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Over two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese. What’s alarming about this statistic is not just the volume of Americans who have tipped their scales -- but the velocity at which they’re doing it. Over the past three decades, the number of these obese Americans has more than doubled. The increase occurred up and down the socioeconomic spectrum, for all racial and ethnic groups, and, most dramatically, for America’s children.
What’s behind the sudden, explosive rise in obesity rates? In a word, it’s economics. Author Eric Finkelstein, a renowned health economist who has spent much of his career studying the economics of obesity, with the help of coauthor Laurie Zuckerman, reveals why America’s growing waistline is a by-product of our economic and technological success. Because of declining food costs, especially for high-calorie, low-nutrient foods, and increasing usage of technology, which make Americans more sedentary, the environment has changed in such a way that we’re eating more calories and burning off less.
The issue is not that Americans don’t care about their increasing waistlines -- quite the opposite, in fact. But the reality is that in America’s (and increasingly the world’s) obesity-inducing environment, the sustained changes in behavior required to lose the weight and keep it off are simply too difficult -- and becoming more difficult all the time. Moreover, generous insurance coverage and vastly improved medical treatments have lowered the health costs, if not the monetary costs, of excess weight. So carrying a few extra pounds is not as bad for one’s health as it used to be.
Finkelstein and Zuckerman blend theory, research, and engaging -- sometimes hilarious -- personal anecdotes to break down the causes and the consequences of America’s obesity epidemic. One by one, they explore the media’s claim that obesity is making our businesses less competitive, pushing good jobs overseas, hurting our military readiness, increasing our taxes, and helping to bankrupt the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Along the way, the authors also reveal how the obesity epidemic has spurred tremendous demand for all sorts of new products and services, creating a flourishing new market they call “The ObesEconomy.”
The Fattening of America outlines the issues we must deal with to confront obesity. The author explores the role that business and policymakers play in America’s obesity epidemic, and explain that successful obesity prevention strategies need to do exactly the opposite of where the economy is taking us. They need to make it cheaper and easier to be thin -- not fat. However, because obesity is a natural by-product of an expanding economy, the authors question whether or not obesity prevention efforts, even if successful, would actually leave some individuals worse off.
Eric A. Finkalstein, PhD, MHA, is a nationally acclaimed expert on the subject of economics and obesity. He is a health economist with the research organization RTI International in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, and teaches health economics at Duke University. His work focuses on the economic causes and consequences of health-related behaviors, with a primary emphasis on obesity. Finklestein has published over thirty peer-reviewed articles on the economics of obesity and related behaviors. His research has been featured on the front page of USA Today and has been covered in the Economist, the New York Times, Forbes, the Washington Post, and many other newspapers, radio, and television outlets.
Laurie Zuckerman left her corporate PR job in 1999 to make writing her full-time career. She contributes columns and feature articles to a number of business journals and lifestyle magazines, and writes for businesses ranging from Fortune 500s to startups, with a focus on health care, high tech, and business.
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